Fuel-feeding mechanism foe



1923 3 Sheets-Sheet. 1

WW4 4.71am

, w 1 & lll r, h 7 m g k v a x 4 r 7 7 z 1 9M, Q 1 K 4 f F Y Q GU91 wag c. i. FILSON FUEL FEEDING MECHANISM FOR FURNACES Filed Sept. 1.

C. i. FILSON FUEL FEEDING MECHANISM FOR FURNACES Filed Se t]. 1923 s Sheets-Sheet. 2

July "8. 11924.

- c. r. FlLSON FUEL FEEDING" MEGI-(ANISQ FOR FURNACES Fil edSept; 1. 1923 3 sheets-58am s 31442214 to'o Patented July 8, 1924.

UNITED STATES CHARLES I. FILSON, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

FUEL-FEEDING MECHANISM FOR FURNACES.

Application filed September 1, 1923. Serial No. 660,550.

.- usually compact assembly.

Another object'is to provide a fuel feed,- ing mechanism in which the fuel feed con trol valves and suction fan or fans are arranged in substantially longitudinal aline- I ment upon a single shaft.

Another object is to provide a mechanism of this character in which there isa minimum amount of lost motion, this being accomplished by employing a single drive shaft and eliminating the necessity for the.

usual auxiliary drives, etc.

A further object is to provide a fuel feed,-

er of this character, wherein the fuel inlet and the air inlet may be individually adjusted and then be regulated by a common control.

A still further object is to provide a mechanism of this character wherein the supply of air and fuel may be so controlled as to form a highly satisfactory mixture to be directed into a furnace. I

It is likewise an object to provide a feeder including a pair of separately housed fans, one of which is a fuel conveying and combustion fan and the other acombustion fan, that is, the first fan assists in conveying-the fuel from the reservoir and mixes it with air, where as the secondary or combustion fan is employed when the mixture is too heavy or rich; the air supply to both fans scription set forth the preferred and one modified embodiment of the same.

In these drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the mechanism;

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the conveying and mixing units; s I

Fig. 3 is a section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2;

' Fig. 4 is a detail view of the plate upon which the fuel feed valve is mounted;

I Fig. 5 is an elevation of the horizontally movable valve slide;

Fig. 6 is a similar view of the vertically movable valve-slide;

Fig. 7 is a sectional View taken on line 77 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 8 is a detail of the means for adjusting the vertical slide;

99 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 10 shows the tool employed when a determination of the amount of fuel being fed is desired; I I s Fig. 11 is a plan view of a modification; Fig. 12is a vertical longitudinal section of the modification; and

Fig. 13 is an end view thereof. Having more particular reference to the drawings in connection with which like characters'of reference will designate corresponding parts throughout, the invention may be stated as comprising a fuel reservoir R, which may be of any desired configuration, and as shown, is preferably formed from sheet metal and provided at one side with a partition P, whereby a separate compartment is provided for receiving a driving motor M. It is of course understood that the reservoir is provided with an inlet whereby fuel may be placed within the receptacle, and it is also provided in its. vertical wall at a point near its bottom with an outletopening 1, said outlet opening being preferably provided with a screen 2 forobvious reasons. 7

Arranged in the lower portion of the reservoir, is a substantially horizontal shaft 3, said shaft as shown, being driven by the aforementioned motor and having. one end extending through the outlet opening 1.

While any of the different forms of spiral flight conveyors may be employed it has been found desirable to use a spiral conveyor consisting of lengths of chain 4 arranged upon the shaft as shown in Fig. '2 of the V drawings and carrying at spaced points, relatively short lengths of chain 5, it being quite apparent that before rotation of the shaft 3 these short lengths of chain will wrap around the shaft but will as a result of the centrifugal force form arms which will sufliciently agitate the fuel contained in the reservoir to permit it to be readily conveyed to the desired point.

Arranged about and enclosing the out let opening 1, is a substantially circular housing 6, which is normally full of fuel and is provided in its upper face with a suitable opening 7 whereby access may be had for adjustment of certain mechanism to be hereinafter referred to. The outer wall 8 of this housing is provided with an elongated opening or passage-way 9, said passage-way serving to permit outward extension ofthe shaft 3 and to further serve as a fuel passage-way, the shaft as shown in Fig. 4 being preferably arranged in the upper .end of said passage-way.

' Obviously it is necessary to-eontrol or regulate the size of the opening in order that the flow of fuel there-through may be accurately controlled, and in order to accomplish this I have provided, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings, a pair of slides 10 and 11, said slides being preferably arranged substantially at right angles to each other. The vertical slide 10 as shown is slid-ably mounted upon the housing wall 8 by providing a set of slots '12, through which are extended bolts 13, it being understood that these bolts are so arranged as to permit free movement of said slide. Preferably this slide 10 is provided with a slot or recess 14 opening through the upper edge thereof and adapted when in its lowermost position, to aline with the passageway 9, this relative positioning being shown in Fig. 3. In order that the size of the pas sage-way through which the fuel is conveyed may be regulated, it is essential that means for readily moving the slide 10 be provided, and in consequence I have ar ranged upon the upper end of said slide, a link adjustment 15, through which movement of the slide is accomplished by rocking the lever 16, upon its supporting shaft 17., The link 15, is provided with means whereby it may be adjusted to a nicety.

In order that the size of the opening 9 may be further regulated the substantially horizontally disposed slide 11, is provided,

said slide having as shown in Figs. 3 and 5,

a substantially inverted L-shaped way or notch which is adapted to receive or straddle the shaft 3. This slide 11, as shown is also provided with-slots 19 through which are extended attaching bolts 20 by means of which slidable connection is effected as between said slide and housing wall 8, it

being understood that this slide is arranged between the vertical slide 10, and wall 8. A handle portion 21 is carried by a slide 11, and projects outwardly beyond the periphery of the walls 8 through an opening 22 as shown in Figs. 3 and 4t.

Carried by the outer portion of the shaft 3 and rota-table there-with is a suction fan 23 which is enclosed by a housing 24 having at one side an out-let opening 25 through which the mixed fuel and air is directed to the furnaces. It has been found quite desirable to convey the fuel direct to the inner portion of the fan blades, this being accomplished by providing a shell or a guide tube 26, said shell completely encircling the shaft 3 between the housing 6 and the fan 23, having one, end securedto the housing wall 8 and its other end flared and terminating adjacent to the said fan inlet.

Spaced from the aforementioned shell 26 is a substantially cylindrical housing 27 which connects the first named housing 6' and the fan housing 24, and is provided with an air inlet opening 28 in its upper side and with the second air inlet opening 29 at a point near its lower side. Through these openings the suction fan draws the supply of air for mixture with the fuel, and in order thatthe quantity of air passing through these openings may be accurately controlled I have provided about the housing 27 a sleeve 30 slidable. on said housing and having a pair of spaced openings 31 which may be alined with the aforesaid openings and through rotation of the sleeve 30 may entirely close the air. inlet openings. From a study of Figs. 2 and 7 it will be seen that an air space 33 is pro-- vided between the shell 26 and the housing 30, as a result of which the fuel and air do not come in contact with each'other for mixture until they h vs .entered the fan housing or mixing chamber 24, where as itis understood, the mixing force is at a maximum.

As will be apparent from Fig. 1 of the drawings the lever 16 by means of which the fuel feeding valves are controlled, shifts oradju'sts the sleeve 30. It is often necessary to adjust the sleeve for the inlet of air, independently of the fuel feed valve, in consequence of which I have provided the lever 16, with a longitudinal way or slot 3a in which is adjustable longitudinally a It is quite obvious that after adjusting the link 15 which connects the slide 10 and the lever 16, that the resultant movement of the sleeve 30 about the housing 27 might be proportionately too great or too small to permit a satisfactory combustion. To over-come this objection, the turn buckle 38 and the bracket 35 may be properly adjusted so that the relative movement of the sleeve 30 and the slides 10 and 11 will be such as to permit to the introduction into the furnace of the highly eflicient fuel.

It is quite possible that the feeding of the fuel thru the passage-way 9 would ordinarily be insuflicient in quantity due to the slow conveying of the fuel by thechain conveyors, and in consequence I have provided a section of an ordinary spiral flight conveyor 40, which is arranged adjacent to said passageway 9 as shown-in Fig. 2. It is quite obvious that one or several of these sections may be employed.

Heretofore it has been ordinarily impossible to determine approximately the amount of fuel being fed to the mixing chamber, and in order to accomplish this I have provided the shell 26 with an outlet or bypass 41,

throughwhich fuel may be taken and con-.

ducted throughthe pipe 42 to a suitable receptacle; before this can be done, the flared end of the shell 26 must be closed, for which I have arranged a disk of felt or the like material 43 slidable upon the shaft 3 and carrying a reinforcing backing plate as shown in Fig. 2. This closure may be moved into or out of engagement with the end of the shell 26, by means of the tool44, as shown in Fig. 10 of the drawings. The cl'osing of the outlet of the shell 26 obviously renders the determination inaccurate to the ex tent to which the fan effects movement of fuel through the'shell, which elfect is very slight. The fuel is permitted to flow through During this determination, which will not require more than a minute,the operation of the furnace is suspended.

In order to facilitate the passing of fuel through the screen 2 and to further assist in agitating the fuel contained in the reservoir,

I have arranged upon the shaft 3, a'curved arm 45. j h

In operation of this fuel feeding mechanism, it is understood that the powdered coal is placed in the-reservoir, the fuel feeding openings 9, and the air inlets are adjusted after which 'the motor M is started. At the beginning of the operation the short lengths of chain 5 are usually wrapped about the 9 from which it is carried to the inner ends of the fan 23, where it is thoroughly and intimately mixed with airwhich has been fed in through the openings 28. The individual adjustment to the fuel passage-way and the air inlets, and the common control lever 16 by which the two may be afterward regulated provides means whereby an absolutely perfect mixture andcombustion may be obtained.

Varying circumstances require the feeding of a greater or lesser amount of fuel to a furnace, and in order to cope with these conditions, I have provided a "second fan 46, which is separately housed from the first fan and is carried by the same shaft. hen it is necessary to feed a heavysupply of'fuel to the furnace an additional volume of air is required and through simultaneous operation of-the two fans this extra volume of air is forced through the pipe 47 and into the mixture. If the fuel supply is to be greatly reduced, the fan 46 may be cutout, the slide 11 movedinwardly to reduce the amount of fuel being fed through the passage-Way 9 and I then depend entirely upon thesingle fan 23 to thoroughlymix the fuel and air.

As clearly shown in Figs. 12 and 13 the housing is provided at its outer end with circumferentially spaced openings 48 adapted to be varied in size by means of the rotatable plate 49 whichis provided with similarlyformed openings 50. Movement of this plate 49 whereby the size of the openings is controlled, is accomplished thru the medium of the lever 51, pivoted at 52 to the housing and having its inner end loosely connected to an arm 53 which is keyed or pinned to the extension 54 of the aforementioned shaft 17. As clearly shown in Fig. 13 the outer end of the shaft of the lever 51is loosely received in the upper end of a substantially crossshaped bracket 55 which is adjustable upon the plate 49 so as to'permit proportional adjustment of the 'air inlet with respect to the fuel passage-way and the mainair inlet. I claimz" 1. A fuel'feeding mechanismcomprising a fuel reservoir a'horizontally disposed conveyor shaft arranged in said reservoir, and having one'end projecting'outwardly of the reservoir, a suction fan carried by the outer end of said shaft, a housing enclosing the fan and the projecting portion of said shaft,

' a fuel feed control arranged in said housing and said housing havingair inlets between the'fan' and fuel control} 2. A fuel feeding mechanism comprising a fuel reservoir, having anoutlet, a horizon: tally disposed conveyor shaft arranged in said reservoir and having one endprojecting outwardly of the reservoir, a housing enclosi-ng saidoutlet. and the projectedportion of SfllClnSlHlf a fuel feed controlrarranged-1n said housing .ZlCllZlCGIlllrllllG reservoir, said housing having air ,inletseoutwardly from the rfuelfeed control,and f-an' means arranged upon the shaft :near its outer end-for drawingin air and assisting :in conveying fuel to the mixing chamber.

3. A fuel feeding mechanism comprising a fuel reservoir having .an outlet, a horizon tally disposed conveyoreshaft arranged in said reservoir and having oneiend projecting outwardly of the reservoir, a housing enclosing said outlet and theiprojected portionof said shaft, a fuel feed control arranged in said housing adjacentthe reservoir, said housing having ,air inlets outwardly from the fuel feed control, ifan meansarranged upon the shaftnear itsouterend wforzdrawing in air and assisting in conveying fuel, means for adjusting the fuel feedopening and means for adjusting the air inlet.

4. A fuel feeding--1nechanis1n comprising a fuel reservoir having an outlet, a horizontally disposed conveyor shaft arranged in said reservoir and having one end projectingoutwardlyof-the reservoir, a housing enclosing said outlet and the projected portion of said shaft, a fuel feed control .arranged in said housing adjacent the: r.eservoir,said housing J'having air inlets, outwardly from the fuel feed con'trol a mixing chamber, fan means arranged upon the shaft near its outer end for drawing in air and assisting in conveying fuel to the mixing chamber, means relatively independent for adjusting the fuel feed opening and the air inlet, and a common control lever to simultaneously regulate the fuel feed and air inlets.

.5. Afuel feed mechanism, comprising a fuel reservoir having an outlet, a horizontally extended housing arranged to enclose said outlet, and having a transverse partition provided with a central horizontal passageway, a horizontal conveyor shaft arranged in the reservoir and projecting into the housing and positionedin said passageway, a vertical slide notched to straddle the shaft and capable of vertical adjustmentto close the passage-way, a horizontal slide mounted in the housing and having a;substantially inverted 'L ShaPGd recess toiengage about the shaft and co-act-zwith thenotch in the vertical islide to varyzthe sizeiand position of the passage-way and means for feeding air into the housing for mixture with the fuel prior to delivery to a furnace.

6. A fuel'feed mechanism, comprising a fuel reservoir having an outlet, a horizontally extended housing arrangedjto enclose said outlet, and having a atransverse iparti tion provided with a central-horizontalipassage-way, a horizontal conveyor shaft arranged in the reservoir and projecting into the housing and positioned in said passageway, a vertical slide notched to straddle the shaftand capable of vertical adjustment to close the passageway, a horizontal slide mounted in the housing and having a substantially-inverted L-shaped recess to engage about the shaft and to act with the notch in the vertical slide to vary the size and position of the passage-way, said slides being relatively independently adjustable and means .for feeding air into the housing for mixture .with the fuel priorto delivery to a furnace.

7. ,A fuel feed mechanism, comprising a fuel reservoir having an outlet, a horizontally extended housing arranged to enclose said 0,utlet,.and -havin g a tram sve-rse ,p artition p rovided with a. central horizontal. passage-way, a horizontal conveyor shaft arranged in the reservoir and projecting into the housing and positionedginj said passage-way, a vertical slidenotchechto straddle the shaft and capable ofvertical adjustment to close the passageway, a horizontal slide mounted in the housing and having a substantially inverted L-shapedrecess'to engage about the shaft and co-act with the notch in the vertical slide to vary the size and position of the passageway, said slides being relatively independently adjustable a common control simultaneously adjusting the air and fuel inlets and means for feeding air into the housing for mixture with the fuel prior to delivery to afurnace.

v 8. A fuel feeding mechanism comprising afuel reservoirhaving an outlet, a conveyor shaft arranged in said reservoir and extending throughthe outlet, a fuel feed control valve arranged outside the reservoir about the shaft, suction fan means carried by the outer portion of the shaft and adapted to mix the fuel and air for delivery to a furnace, and a housing for the elementsoutside of said reservoir.

, -9. A fuel feeding mechanismcomprising a fuel reservoir, having an outlet, a fuel conveyor, a fuel feed control valve straddling the conveyor, a suction fan at the outer end of said conveyor,.a housing enclosing. the fan, conveyor andvalve and having an air inlet, and a common control means for said fuel valve and air inlet.

. 10. A fueLfeedingmechanism comprising a fuel reservoir, aconveyor shaft arranged in the reservoir and extending through one side wall, fan mechanism carried by the outer end of the shaft, a housing enclosing the-fan mechanism and extended portions of the shaft, a fuel conveyor tube surrounding a portion of the shaft and having its outer end terminated adjacent the fan mechanism, a fuel feed control valve arranged at the inne-r end of said tube, and adjustable air inlets radially spaced from the tube and formed in the said housing.

11. A. fuel feeding mechanism comprising a fuel reservoir, a conveyor shaft arranged in the reservoir and extending through one side wall, fan mechanism carried by the outer end of the shaft, a housing enolosin the fan mechanism and extended portions the shaft, a fuel conveyor tube surrounding a portion of the shaft and having its outer end terminated adjacent the fan mechanism,

a fuel feed control valve arranged at the' inner end of said tube, said housing having air inlets spaced radially from the conveyor tube, and a common control for varying the air and fuel flow.

12. A fuel feeding mechanlsm OOIIIPIlS- ing a fuel reservoir, a conveyor shaft arranged in the reservoir and extending through one Wall, fan mechanism carried by the outer end of the shaft, a housing encl0sing the fan and shaft and having an air inlet, a valved fuel passage Way arranged between the reservoir and fan mechanism, said air inlet and fuel passage-Way being independently adjustable to vary the proportionate feed of air and fuel, and a common control means for simultaneously and uniformly adjusting the air inlet and fuel passage Way after the adjustment for proportions.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature.

CHARLES I. FILSON. 

